Correspondence
Correspondence Defending Mr. Begin Washington, D.C. To the Editors: A stable Middle East is unquestionably in the highest strategic interest of the United States and what remains of the Western...
...I'm glad that bounty old John Ireland gave up Loisy for John A. Ryan...
...As someone who has been working for prison reform since 1974 in the South, I thought the readers of Commonweal might be interested in the effect Chapman has already had in Louisiana and what it might portend for the future...
...For example, the Iran-Iraq war, the tensions between Libya and Egypt and the tragic civil war in Lebanon in which 120,000 Moslems and Christians have died in the last six years...
...In that respect, Israel is a front-ranker in the Western world...
...You are concerned about the Lebanese civilians in Beirut, but say not one word about the Israeli civilians who came under constant bombardment from the terrorists who sought and found refuge in Beirut and perpetrated their dastardly deeds in their expectation of immunity...
...For instance, being unable to stand upright in a low-ceiling cell where you live for years, or having rats and roaches crawl over you, or to seldom if every exercise unless you are in a state where cotton is still king and you work the fields doing slave labor, or to receive negligible and sometimes harmful medical care...
...If you are poor or black, you still have to get back when you are in Southern prisons or jails...
...It takes very little imagination to predict what is going to happen in Angola as the state begins to implement its new policies...
...If any are so inclined, I hereby issue a formal invitation...
...Supreme Court's Rhodes v. Chapman decision in which Justice Powell, speaking for eight of the brethren, declared "The Constitution does not mandate comfortable prisons...
...Aside from its death penalty decisions in 1976, there probably has been no single decision of the Court which so illustrates the gap between the marble majesty which ensconces the members of the Court and the terrible reality of what really takes place in the states...
...You are quite wrong in suggesting in your editorial "Biting the Mideast Bullet" [Nov...
...One does not gainsay the advantage offered nowadays by inter-disciplinary arrangements for theological and scriptural studies, but random observation of the nascent blinking you talk about in what is left of the etymologically pregnant notion of seminary will likely occasion its own academic blink...
...JOSEPH B. INGLE Director Southern Coalition on Jails and Prisons 'Unnecessarily snotty' West Point, Neb...
...The decision went on to declare it was all right to double-cell folks as long as the conditions don't breach "the contemporary standard of decency...
...The facts negate your perception...
...I am getting a little old to play liturgical house with them any more, and past trying to intimate that a quite proper interest in social justice and related matters did not rise out of thin air in the sixties...
...It might do the justices good to descend from their marble tower in D.C...
...One of its presidents, John Ireland, once came within a hair's breadth of hiring Loisy to teach Scripture, and I suggest that it was a good thing that someone was not comatose then, were children to be "taught, fathered and mothered in the faith...
...I suppose the seminary I attended would not have measured up to your dreamy strictures, but I could hardly subscribe to the notion that it was intellectually comatose...
...Already, the impact of this decision is being felt in one Southern state and I shudder to think what the future might hold for my region and our barbaric prisons...
...No pun intended...
...Also Soviet strategic planning, Soviet instruction and even Soviet personnel...
...and come on a Southern prison tour with us...
...It is (Continued on page 29) Correspondence (Continued from page 2) clear that at least one Southern state has taken the Rhodes v. Chapman decision as a signal to become even more repressive...
...6] that this policy is not working...
...23] unnecessarily snotty...
...to Angola, Louisiana and those well reasoned court decisions read differently below the Mason-Dixon line...
...To the Editors: I find your editorial on seminaries [Oct...
...Perhaps before writing their next opinion on prisons, the justices would like to share some routine experiences in Southern prisons...
...As a result of Rhodes v. Chapman, the Governor decided to promote double-celling and thus insure an escalation of violence throughout the Louisiana system...
...Indeed the relationship between Israel and the United States is based on the recognition that Israel will look after her own security...
...Although I have disagreed strongly with Mr...
...I like and admire most of the new breed I see, though when I greet them with "Dominus Vobiscum" they don't seem to know what the hell to answer...
...Phelps and many of his policies, he clearly was committed to cutting the level of violence in the system...
...From what empyrean slot of "true intelligence, wit and wisdom" do you judge the matter...
...And though it is true beyond doubt that laymen do indeed deserve a clergy of "true intelligence, wit and wisdom," isn't it just barely possible that they, quite as much as the seminary, have the burden of providing that kind of fodder...
...The litany could go on, but I believe the point is made...
...She has faced Soviet arms since 1955 - and not only arms...
...At this very time, negotiations are proceeding on the furtherance of the autonomy plan, also based on an initial proposal by Mr...
...Prime Minister Begin, who is the only one of the three principals of Camp David still in office, contributed much to the on-going peace process which has borne its first fruit - the treaty between Israel and Egypt...
...Far from abusing him as you have done, you should welcome his efforts and acknowledge the sacrifices and contribution that he and his government have made towards a peaceful settlement in the area...
...FRANCIS SCHMITT...
...HARRY ZVI HURWITZ Minister of Information Embassy of Israel Our barbaric prisons Nashville, Tenn...
...In the wake of his dismissal, Warden Blackburn has been "promoted" to a desk job and Ross Maggio, well known for a diametrically different approach, has been appointed warden at Angola...
...This is particularly appropriate now when steps are being taken and statements are being made that could endanger, if not undermine, this vital peace process...
...As my colleagues and I continue our, fight for prison reform and abolition of the death penalty in the South, we have developed a rather black sense of humor about the Supreme Court vis-a-vis the realities we encounter daily in prisons and jails in our region...
...It is in the West's interest to supply her with the wherewithal to do so...
...Under the guidance of Paul Phelps, Secretary of Corrections, those people have usually been housed one to a cell...
...9 issue raised some real concerns about the U.S...
...Right now, however, practically the whole area is a sea of turbulence in which more than ten localized conflicts and internal upheavals are taking place...
...Her experience is invaluable to United States strategy...
...To this end, he and Frank Blackburn, Warden of plantation style Angola prison, have successfully reduced the level of violence at Angola over the last five years...
...With the Supreme Court giving it license to overcrowd, Louisiana will continue its harsh sentencing policies and fill up Angola, double-celling along the way, and violence between prisoners and from prisoners toward guards and vice versa will increase dramatically...
...To the Editors: The lead editorial in the Oct...
...It's a long way from Washington, D.C...
...She has never requested manpower from anyone to defend her population and sovereignty...
...To the Editors: A stable Middle East is unquestionably in the highest strategic interest of the United States and what remains of the Western world...
...You ignore the enormous accumulation of arms in the Arab countries who are being supplied by the Soviet Union, Western Europe and even the United States...
...Israel has no alternative but to take such measures as it deems necessary to safeguard its population...
...In fact, the only quiet spot is the Israel-Egypt border and this is the result of the Peace Treaty based upon the policy of the United States, Egypt and Israel...
...MSGR...
...Phelps objected strongly and as a result was fired...
...On the other hand, there is need for strategic cooperation between the United States and Israel in confronting the threat of the Soviet Union and her surrogates...
...The Camp David peace process is the only positive and constructive development in the Middle East in more than fifty years...
...As of this writing, Louisiana is riding the crest of a wave of oil money which has enabled that state to build prisons at an alarming rate and incarcerate more folks per capita than forty-six other states in the country...
Vol. 109 • January 1982 • No. 1
